Spent $80 on a ground-penetrating radar rental... found a 100-year-old septic tank instead of a burial mound

I was out near a dig site in southern Ohio and thought I had spotted a potential Native American mound, so I rented a GPR unit for a weekend. Cost me $80 and a full day of scanning, but all I hit was an old iron pipe and a cracked septic tank from the 1920s. The landowner just laughed and said his granddad buried that thing back when the farm was new. Still kind of cool to see the tech work, even if it didn't find what I wanted. Anyone else ever get burned by a rental gizmo that promised more than it delivered?

2 comments

2 Comments

phoenix_lewis6d ago

$80 for a weekend rental is honestly a steal, most places charge double that. Bet that granddad is laughing from the grave knowing you found his old plumbing instead of treasure.

kaigibson5d ago

Haha yeah $80 is dirt cheap for GPR, usually you're dropping double that and a deposit. I feel your pain though, I rented a metal detector once that was supposed to "see deep" and all I found was a bunch of rusty bottle caps and a horseshoe from maybe 1950. The tech is cool but it's like it has a knack for finding the most boring stuff possible. At least you got a story out of it, and now you know that septic tank is definitely not a burial mound. Did you at least get to keep the scan data or did the rental place wipe it?